Unsaid
Books | Fiction / Literary
4.3
(51)
Neil Abramson
In this USA Today bestselling debut novel, Neil Abramson explores the beauty and redemptive power of human-animal relationships and the true meaning of communication in all of its diverse forms.As a veterinarian, Helena was required to choose when to end the lives of the terminally ill animals in her care. Now that she has died, she is afraid to face them and finally admit to herself that her thirty-seven years of life were meaningless, error-ridden, and forgettable. So Helena lingers, a silent observer haunted by the life she left behind-her shattered attorney husband, David; her houseful of damaged but beloved animals; and her final project, Cindy, a chimpanzee trained to use sign language who may be able to unlock the mysteries of animal communication and consciousness. When Cindy is scheduled for a research experiment that will undoubtedly take her life, David must call upon everything he has learned from Helena to save her. In the explosive courtroom drama that follows, all the threads of Helena's life entwine and tear as Helena and David confront their mistakes, grief, and loss and discover what it really means to be human.Abramson's next novel, JUST LIFE, published in May 2016.
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Author
Neil Abramson
Pages
368
Publisher
Hachette Nashville
Published Date
2011-08-04
ISBN
1609419057 9781609419059
Ratings
Google: 3
Community ReviewsSee all
"Wow, this book left me in tears. Not at all what I envisioned it would be by the blurb describing the synopsis of the book, but it was so much more than that at the same time. If you aren't an animal lover this book probably won't appeal to you much but there are larger issues going on here as well -such as handling grief, the human-animal connection, things left unsaid (which I believe is where the novel gets its title, but you could append other resonant meanings to it as well), regret, guilt and redemption. The court case that you cannot stop reading through until it's over provides its own rollercoaster of emotions. (At least that's how it happened for me.) I cried during one scene in the courtroom and, of course, over everything that came thereafter. <br/><br/>The ending, which takes place seven years after the climax of the novel, soothed over a lot of the rawest emotions I experienced therein, but I was still left with a subdued mood upon finishing because my own pet came front and center in my mind over an event that should not have had to happen wherein I had to give him up for his own safety. Wait. Subdued? No. I was a mess.<br/><br/>I don't know why I keep going for books that destroy me, but here I am. <br/><br/>I loved this book."
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Summer Taylor
